PHILADELPHIA – Kalle Kossila always imagined taking the lacrosse-style goals he had fun doing in practice and actually trying it in a game. Not just any game, but one against real professionals.

With one bold move, the Ducks forward hopeful chucked convention aside made a name for himself on YouTube with the San Jose Barracuda’s Jacob Middleton and Troy Grosenick his unwitting co-stars.

In an American Hockey League game with the San Diego Gulls last January, Kossila got the puck alone behind the Barracuda net and surveyed his options. In most cases, if not all, it is customary to look for a teammate and set them up with a scoring chance.

As Middleton tracked him in going from one side of the net to the other, Kossila took the opposite direction behind it. His mind was made up by the time he made his move. Getting the puck to sit on his stick, the French-born Finnish forward lifted it up and picked an open top right corner of the net.

The move that Grosenick never recognized and Middleton was far too late to see went in the blink of an eye. And as a sellout crowd at Valley View Casino Center in San Diego erupted, Kossila celebrated with a lift of his right skate and a pump of his arms.

Brandon Montour couldn’t believe that it worked. “You kind of shake your head,” the Ducks’ defenseman said. “How did that happen? But it’s all in good fun.”

Montour could believe that it was Kossila who attempted it. An undrafted college free agent signed out of St. Cloud State, Kossila was called up on Monday and played in his second NHL game with the Ducks. His other one came last season.

“You see it in practice and stuff and you see the skill that he’s got,” Montour said. “You see how goofy he is off the ice. It was just – typical Kos. He’d be the one to get that.”

The memory of that goal – one’s that often referred to “the Michigan goal” made famous by Mike Legg of the 1996 NCAA champion Wolverines – still brings a smile to Kossila. He said Gulls coach Dallas Eakins had no issue with him trying the unusual move.

“You’re going to try to be creative,” Kossila said. “If you get a chance, you might as well try. He doesn’t care. It’s in the offensive zone. You can try things.”

Looking back, it made perfect sense to take the chance.

“It was just an opportunity,” he called. “The defenseman was in front of the net and I had all the time in the world. I decided if I get that much time, I’d try it. Even if it doesn’t come on top of my stick, I’d keep skating and nobody’s going to even notice that I tried it. So it’s kind of a risk-free play, to be honest.”

Kossila earned his promotion with a hot start in San Diego that produced two goals and four assists in the Gulls’ first five games. And on Tuesday night, his first NHL point came on a pass that sprung Montour for a second-period goal.

When he spoke with Eakins, Carlyle was told that the versatile forward had been their best player.

“And when he left here, he had a good camp,” Carlyle said. “We said, ‘You’re 60 miles away.’ And now he’s finding out we’re true to our word from the standpoint that we need people to make a contribution.

“They have to go down there and play well. And he’s done that. We think that he has an opportunity to slid in and give us what he’s got.”

Montour is happy to share a dressing room again with his former Gulls teammate.

“He deserves it, to be up here,” he said. “From what I hear he’s played really well for them. He had a successful year last year. He’s a good young player and he’s got a great upside.”

CAGEY PUNCH

Perhaps in another life, Kevin Bieksa might have been a mixed martial arts fighter. It certainly looked that way when the defenseman took on Flyers tough guy Radko Gudas and surprised him by pushing off his left foot, kicking his right one back and dropping him with a flying right hand.

The move is commonly referred to in MMA circles as a “Superman punch” that was popularized by George St. Pierre and other fighters.

“It’s always in my thought process,” Bieksa said. “Sometimes I’d like to do it to a couple of guys in this room. Obviously it’s an advantage if it lands. I always try to land something coming in. And that one worked out well.”

It fired up the Ducks, who were already lit up with the return of Ryan Getzlaf and Hampus Lindholm to the lineup.

“The fight was a big thing for us, I thought,” Getzlaf said. “Sometimes those things can swing momentum for you. I thought Juice did a good job getting in there and building some momentum for our group. And we built off it from there.”

ICE CHIPS

Carlyle got his 414th career victory, moving him past Jack Adams into 32nd place on the all-time NHL coaching list. Adams, whose name is the basis for the annual award given to the league’s coach of the year, got all of his wins with Detroit when the league played in 60 games or fewer. … The Ducks scored five goals or more in consecutive games for the first time since Feb. 15-21, 2016. … Francois Beauchemin got his 200th career assist on Montour’s goal.

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